Waited a week now and surprised that absolutely no one has made any reference whatsoever about the Sunna Gunnlaug's cover of the George Michael tune on JRR last week. I was convinced that Bluesnik would be really quick to pen a response.
I regret that i had never heard of Sunna Gunnlaug before and her playing really reminded me of Nils Lan Doky's album from about ten years ago based on Scandinavian "standards" which managed to incorporate folk songs, Grieg and Sibelius as well as the Jame Bond film these by Ah-ha. (Well worth tracking down.) I think that Sunna made a very good arrangement of a tune that I would have thought would have been unsalvageable. The previous week we were treated to John Holllenbecks's deconstruction of a tune by the Bee Gees which I felt was extremely clever. Hollenbeck was a bit more disrespectful to the riginal material. The idea of performing pop material is really loaded with extra baggage such as the strictness of the original arrangement and non-musical issues such as nostalgia. Being mischievous, I am wondering how many people listening to JRR would have been familiar with the "Whams'!" version and whether the announcement before piece was played would have prejudiced some listener's opinion prior to the track finishing. I have listened to the track a few times now and it seems more convincing each time I play it. Personally, I would have been curious to listen just how this arrangement manifested itself in a live performance and what further liberties would have been taken. I do think that the studio performance would have hoodwinked some listeners had it not been announced as a George Michael tune.
Whenever i hear someone do this to pop music, I am always reminded by Steve Lacy's total rejection of performing popular music on the basis that there was already sufficient jazz composition to retain his interest anf he had no interest whatsoever in stepping outside of this . Part of this opinion chimes with my own snobbishness whilst drawng parallels with the jazz / classics debate a few weeks ago, I have to admit that I quite like it when jazz musicians to this. For me, the appeal is largely centred around just how much they feel inclined not to respect the original and what they can to to transform it into something really personal. There is often quite a challenge as so much pop music is actually really simple and also that decent song writers in pop music are increasinglyfew and far between. I can see why songwriters of the 1970s such as Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits have managed to be transformed so successfully and also why musicians like Prince and EWF had such an appeal for jazz musicians. I know from downloading leadsheets of some conremporary pop tunes that alot of it is pretty dire.. The better interpretations have sometimes been stand out tracks on jazz records but I would struggle to think of anything less likely than George Michael - even though I am aware that there are some music fans who considered him a bit more savvy than his contemporaries. Given the track lacked the instant wierdness of someone like Bjork whose music has an instant appeal to jazz musicians, fair play to Sunna to reinventing something which I am guessing would be quite nostalgic for her.
I regret that i had never heard of Sunna Gunnlaug before and her playing really reminded me of Nils Lan Doky's album from about ten years ago based on Scandinavian "standards" which managed to incorporate folk songs, Grieg and Sibelius as well as the Jame Bond film these by Ah-ha. (Well worth tracking down.) I think that Sunna made a very good arrangement of a tune that I would have thought would have been unsalvageable. The previous week we were treated to John Holllenbecks's deconstruction of a tune by the Bee Gees which I felt was extremely clever. Hollenbeck was a bit more disrespectful to the riginal material. The idea of performing pop material is really loaded with extra baggage such as the strictness of the original arrangement and non-musical issues such as nostalgia. Being mischievous, I am wondering how many people listening to JRR would have been familiar with the "Whams'!" version and whether the announcement before piece was played would have prejudiced some listener's opinion prior to the track finishing. I have listened to the track a few times now and it seems more convincing each time I play it. Personally, I would have been curious to listen just how this arrangement manifested itself in a live performance and what further liberties would have been taken. I do think that the studio performance would have hoodwinked some listeners had it not been announced as a George Michael tune.
Whenever i hear someone do this to pop music, I am always reminded by Steve Lacy's total rejection of performing popular music on the basis that there was already sufficient jazz composition to retain his interest anf he had no interest whatsoever in stepping outside of this . Part of this opinion chimes with my own snobbishness whilst drawng parallels with the jazz / classics debate a few weeks ago, I have to admit that I quite like it when jazz musicians to this. For me, the appeal is largely centred around just how much they feel inclined not to respect the original and what they can to to transform it into something really personal. There is often quite a challenge as so much pop music is actually really simple and also that decent song writers in pop music are increasinglyfew and far between. I can see why songwriters of the 1970s such as Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits have managed to be transformed so successfully and also why musicians like Prince and EWF had such an appeal for jazz musicians. I know from downloading leadsheets of some conremporary pop tunes that alot of it is pretty dire.. The better interpretations have sometimes been stand out tracks on jazz records but I would struggle to think of anything less likely than George Michael - even though I am aware that there are some music fans who considered him a bit more savvy than his contemporaries. Given the track lacked the instant wierdness of someone like Bjork whose music has an instant appeal to jazz musicians, fair play to Sunna to reinventing something which I am guessing would be quite nostalgic for her.
Comment